BMW M3 and M4 first drive review

Peter McKay

BMW M3 and M4 video review

Andrew MacLean tests German brand's latest high-performance twins.

Names changes have not always brought a rollicking success. Remember when the successful Nissan Pulsar became the unwanted Tiida. In the creation of fresh tags, there are other case histories of triumph seguing to disappointment: Iran transforming from Persia, and Todd Carney, now better known across Australia as D***head.

On the other hand, renewing names can hit the spot - ask Elton John, formerly Reggie Dwight. Or Eminem (born Marshall Bruce Mathers III). Or the Sydney Swans, identified in a previous life and location as South Melbourne.

BMW is hoping for similar success with its rebadging of its masterpiece, legend, dream material… We’re talking about the BMW M3. Or is that the M4?

The 2014 BMW M4 on the Hampton Downs circuit in New Zealand.

Branding is appearing just a little muddied at a time when BMW is keen to hit back at the tough competition from the Mercedes AMG cars and Audi’s RS flyers.

Since the mid-1980s, the M3 Coupe has been the performance car that boys (and some girls) of all ages lusted after.

Across several generations, the M3 was the sizzling all-rounder that enthusiasts bought in droves, and BMWs in-house motorsport division, BMW M, used as the basis of many touring car variants.

The 2014 BMW M3 laps the Taupo circuit in New Zealand.

Then, last year the marketing and branding chaps settled on a new nomenclature for BMW. Odd numbers were allocated to sedans; even numbers to coupes and convertibles. In one fell swoop, the M3 Coupe was no more. The last one was produced in July last year.

The new 3-Series M car in two-door coupe form is called the M4. Doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it? In years past the M3 always carried an M3 badge, whether it was a coupe, a sedan or a drop top.

Boasting about their new weapon down at the pub, owners of the new M4 will now have to go into an elaborate explanation about how the M4 is really, truly the M3 of folklore, and that the new M3 sedan is really a….aaaagh. Confusing it is. And it will remain so until we all get our heads around it.

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The M division’s head of sales Jorg Bartles doesn’t anticipate any lingering dramas.

“People will get used to the change," he says. "In any case, we [the M division] didn’t have a choice. It was BMW’s decision. But we still have the M letter.”

While new buyers of the latest M3/M4 range hitting the local showrooms this month will perhaps stumble over the badge, they also need to decide to make a choice. Stay with the evocative old name attached to a more practical and not-so-sexy four-door shape, or go for the unfamiliar new name in the stirring coupe that traditionalists have adored for decades.

The decision-making process is difficult. From the driver’s seat, it’s nigh impossible to detect any differences. Around a racetrack, they are nigh identical. On some circuits, the coupe might just shade the sedan. Just. Both double-clutch transmission versions of the M3 and M4 do the zero to 100km/h burst in 4.1 secs.

The brilliant twin-turbocharged in-line six-cylinder engines in each produces 317kW, which is a little more power than the V8 its replaces. But check out the torque leap – up 38 per cent to 550Nm – which transforms the new M-and-M pair into track blasters that can also behave like princesses in a road environment. Fuel consumption (8.3 litres/100km) and emissions (194gkm) are 25 per cent better than the old 4.0-litre V8.

As is the case with all M cars, owners can also tailor engine, transmission, steering and dynamics to suit ability or tastes. From soft to brutal.

Purists who hanker for the traditional M3 performance might opt for the M4 two-door, believing that it may have the slightest edge in acceleration because it is lighter by 23 kg. The coupe is also not as tall as the sedan (by 41mm) and 7mm narrower, measurements that should hand it a teeny advantage at higher speeds.

The sedan, on the other hand, is probably an easier car to live with, seating five with the rear passengers benefiting from extra head room. It also has a bigger-capacity luggage area, 480 litres to the coupe’s 445 litres.

Nominating which is the more awesome car is a tough call. Ahead of the Australian launch Drive was spirited across the Tasman to do some serious back-to-back motoring on some excellent rural roads, as well as two – yes, two – of New Zealand’s tasty racing circuits.

First up, Hampton Downs, an undulating track designed with input from four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy. An excellent choice to check BMW’s assertion that the M cars are track ready but to attempt to answer a pressing first world question: which of the two cars does Drive favour?

A dry track surface would be ideal to mount a comparison. But of course it’s raining. Way harder to get clear impressions of the dynamics and balance.

The new electromechanical Servotronic steering offered for the first time in the M3/M4 impresses. Both cars gives the driver a choice of three settings – Comfort, Sport and Sport +. The tactile feedback of old is there in the last of those settings.

Similarly the standard Adaptive M suspension gives similar choices. Sport + is obvious for the track; Comfort more suited to the city and rural roads, where your kidneys vote for a suspension mode less rigid.

What is obvious from powering around slippery Hampton Downs is that, yes, it’s quite reassuring to have the electronics on safety watch to catch any overly bold tail-out action. Use too much throttle at generous revs and the rear tyres – excellent 19-inch Michelin Pilots – spin up momentarily before traction is limited and composure restored.

Finally, there’s a hint of a dry line appearing, and we get a healthier idea of the behaviour and character of the cars. Maybe the M3 is a little more poised. The rear end certainly seems to stick a little longer before the power overcomes grip.

While the newcomers do have a pleasant and obvious exhaust note, the twin-turbo doesn’t growl in the same sensual way as the old V8, or as urgent as the glorious metallic blast of the last naturally aspirated E46 six-cylinder.

Next up is a 250km road drive to Taupo. It’s still raining. But the beautiful power delivery and huge torque spread continue to impress in the real world. These new M cars are not out of place as daily transport. The made-for-the M3/M4 Michelins Pilots (not run flats, by the way) keep hanging on in the wet, when others might have lost their tenacity. The only jarring note is the high and intrusive levels of tyre roar on coarse tarmac.

A new day dawns with a similar weather scenario. It’s still raining and its 3 degrees C. Off to the nearby Taupo race track, we’re thankful for the wide layout, the heated seats and the blast from the climate control air cond. Lapping in both cars again serves to endorse the pair’s under-bonnet performance, brakes, grip, active differential, steering and balance.

Manual gearbox cars which rev match (blip) on down changes, can be ordered specially at no extra charge, and have a 40kg advantage in weight. But the manual can’t beat the standard-issue DCT, which is faster and more fuel efficient.

BMW Australia expects just a handful of orders for manuals. Unlike the case in Germany where the coupe is still very much the buyers’ favourite, there is also a forecast that Aussies will be evenly split in their demands for M3 and M4.

Which would Drive choose? The M4 – the coupe – is a visual stunner, the pick of the two if styling is the criteria. But on the grounds of practicality I’d want the sedan, the M3, with DCT. The more compact and lighter doors are easier to manoeuvre when alighting. It’ll carry a fifth passenger too.. At $156,000, the M3 is also 10 grand cheaper than the coupe.

And I won’t need a whiteboard down at the pub to explain what an M4 is….

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

For its part, Mercedes Benz isn’t in surrender mode, being on target to pass a milestone for its AMG prestige performance brand when it delivers the 10,000th AMG since the launch of the brand in Australia. (That was the C36 in 1995).

Currently AMG makes up an impressive nine per cent of Mercedes’ local passenger car and SUV volumes. That’s the highest penetration of any market in the world and the car maker is looking at delivering 2000 AMG units this year.

The direct competitor for the BMW M3/M4 is the Mercedes C63 AMG, which can now only be ordered in one guise - C63 AMG 507 Coupe (the sedan and wagon variants are out of production, with an all-new range imminent)

This week on the day of the launch of the new M3/M4, (a sheer coincidence, no doubt!), Mercedes-Benz Australia announced special pricing of $159,507 for the C63 AMG 507 Coupe, a cut of nearly $12,000. With 373 kW from its 6.3-litre V8 (which gets SLS pistons and rods), the model often referred to as the 'factory hot rod' is not merely fading away….

The 10,000th AMG will be delivered later this year and Mercedes promises it will be a special car of which more details will be released later.